Process of producing gas for power purposes.



No. 839,798. PATENTBD DEC. 25, 1906.

I F. W. BARKER & T. L. WHITE.

PROCESS OF PRODUCING GAS FOR POWER PURPOSES. APPLIOATION FILED SEPT. 12, 1906.

COO

. cylinder material.

UNITED srA rEs" .FREDERIUK W BARKER, or umen, AND 'JZZ-ZUMAS L. WHITE, or new YORK, N. Y., ssrsuons 0F ONE-TENTH ro JOHN F. COFFIN, or

NEW YORK, n, Y.

PROCESS OF PRODUCING see FQR POWER PURPOSES.

Patented Dec. 25. 1906.

ap eas filed SeptemberlZ, 1906. j semi No. 334.254.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, FREDERICK W. BARKER, residing at N y'ack, in the county of Rockland, and THOMAS L. WHITE, residing in the borough of Manhattan, city and county of New York, State of New York, subjects of 'the King of England, have invented a Process of I 'roducing Gas-for Power Purposes, of whichthe-iollowing is a specification.

The object of our invention, which. relates to the carbureting of air .by a mixture of vapor of alcohol and acetylene gas, is to facilitate the evaporationoi alcohol in the carbureter of an explosion-motor by the addition of heat chemically liberated in the body of the alcohol itself, to dehydrate-to a large degree the alcohol by the same chemical reaction. which. is used to heat it, and, finally, to enrich the evaporated alcohol by the intermixture with itof acetylene gas generated in the body of the alcohol itself.

It is well known. to those versed in the art that the principal diflicultics met with in the use of alcohol as a fuel for internal-combus- 'tion motors are connected with the carbureter. In the first place, thelatent heat of combustion in an internal-combustion motor; using alcohol is conducted, acetic acid is always found in the exhaust-gases, and when the alcohol used contains water, as is invariably the case with the alcohol (dena tured) of commerce, the acetic acid and. the Water together exert an erosive action on the from difliculties connected with the carbureter itself, vapor of alcohol mixed with. air is slower to burn or explode than isthe case lwithamixture of gasolene and air, which is athermal disadvantage, seeing thatit is desirable to add heat to the working fluid of an explosion-motor at the moment of maxi- In the last place, apart gas, this latter spray, while byit e hleat liberated in the ac-' mum compression and not'during the first portion of the expans'romstrokeh To overcome these difliculties is the obj ect,

of our invention.

The essential procedure consists in bringing dilute alcohol into contact with calcium car-bid and simultaneously drawing air in contact with the carliid. In practice the air and dilute alcohol are nnngled before contacting with the carbid, and it con sidered advantageous to admit the air and dilute alcohol as a mingled "a practice it is advantageous to pass the ruingled dilute alcohol and air through the car-- hid.

Inthe accompanying lTVlWlI' the iiguro is a diagrammatic view of an app tus showing how the invention may be c 'ried into cilect.

While we are not limited to the use of any particular app and carhid into contact to produce the desired result, we have for convenience of OX.- planation annexed hereto a diagrammatic drawing of a motor-intake provided with a fuel-supply and atomizer, together with a carbid-support disposed in the path oi the alcoholic spray passing to the combustionchamber. In said view, a indicates the comlnistion-chamlier, t the fuelintake, c an alcomaybe employed. We provide a receptacle,

as e, to contain carbid of calcium, which may be in granular form and supported upon a sieve, as f, within said receptacle. hopy, also in ratus or bringing the alcohol.

per, as 9, may be provided to supply quotas oi: carbid as needed to replenish the supply, a valve, as 7r, controlling such supply. The spray, composed of atomized alcohol mingled with air, which passes through the intake enters receptacle 6 in its passage to the com bustion-chamber. In said receptacle it im- IOO pinges upon the car-hid, the water present and the 'carbid thereby generating acetylene roduct' mingling with the tion described the further vaporization of the atomized alcohol is further assisted. The mixture is thus in the form of a readily-combustible vapor before entering the combustion-chamber.

A pipe, as i, communicating with the motor-exhaust or with the usual water-jacket, may pass about the arbid-receptacle to heat the carbid and thus assist in the generation of acetylene gas in the operation of the motor.

The quantity of water present in the alcohol used a fuel, in conjunction with the dehydrating agent which we employ, may Vary within reasonable limits. We have contemlated using commercial denaturized alco- 01, which, as a rule,contains about ten per cent, by volume,of water, and we can obtain satisfactory results by using this form of alcohol in an internal combustion motor by spraying said hydrated alcohol u Jon carbid of calcium before admitting it to t e combustion-chamber. Should it be desired to use ethyl alcohol (C H O) or methyl alcohol, (011 0,) or both, then a sutlicient quantity of Water must be added to such element or elements to give them a corresponding percentage of water. A larger or smaller proportion of water may be employed, accordmgly as it is desired to enrich the alcoholvapors to a greater or less extent with acetylene gas and to increase or decrease the amount of heat liberated from the carbid of calcium in the generation of acetylene. The

presence of other substances, such as denaturizing agents, inthe alcohol is immaterial to the performance of the desired action.

We are well aware that calcium carbid has been used as a dehydrating agent in the determination and estimation of some members of the alcohol series but the new and useful feature of our invention consists in carbureting air in the region where the reaction between the carbid and dilute alcohol is taking place, thus using the product of dehydration to enrich the alcohol-vzmor, whereby its calorific Value is increased, as also its speed of inflammation in the motor, with the added advantage that the dehydration saves the erosion of the cylinder material.

It is an advantage of this process that the resulting mixture of alcohol-vapor, acetylene, and air is from the nature of its formation a uniform one, anything sensibly approaching a Variation in density or richness being avoided. Moreover, there is a uniform heat ing of the mixture as a whole as distinguished carbid and by simultaneously passing air in contact with the carbid.

4. The process of roducing a gas for power purposes consisting in bringing a spray of dilute alcohol into contact with calcium carbid and simultaneously passing air through the carbid.

5. The process of producing a gas for power purposes consisting in bringing dilute alcohol into contact with calcium'carbid and by simultaneously passing air in contact With the carbid.

6. The process of producing a gas for power purposes which consists in carbureting air with dilute alcohol and then bringing such carbureted air into contact with calcium carbid.

F. W. BARKER. 'l. L. WHITE. Witnesses:

M. A. .Ninsrnn-vnrr, FREDERICK C. BONNY. 

